Job Discussion Forums

[Apsara]

There was a school called the Bingbangboom English club in Saitama when I lived there... And is Howdy Howdy English school still around? I haven't seen any advertising from them for a while now I think of it.

[Quibby84]

Just a quick complaint about conversation schools....before you decide to work for one...lol
So the turn around for teachers is amazing, I have been at this same job for 8 months and NO ONE at the conversation school has been here as long as me. I have seen about 5 rotations of teachers since I have been here. They come and go and come and go...so this is really bad for me...When a teachers suddenly leaves and they are not prepared with a replacement (which they never are) then I get more and more classes and more and more time spent away from home. My last two months of conversation school were horrible. I had about 6 overtime hours a week and that doesnt sound like much until you consider that about every 2 hours has AT LEAST an hour of travel time. I was gone from home 9:30 to 5:45 on Monday (there is some break but it is usually getting from one place to the next), 7:54 to 8:00 on tuesday, 9:00 to 5:00 on wednesday, 10:00 to 5 on thursday, and 8:00 to 9 on friday. I was soooo tired. Because in that time I had to prepare dinner and prepare lessons for my classes. I racked up a killing in overtime but I was to tired to be happy about that. Well anyway, I did this for about two and a half months. Well about the time that it was all calming down I get called into the office and they slam me for not worshipping the parents enough. They admitted that I was a good teacher but they basically said that that didnt matter...they told me to put on a front for the parents to make them think that I had taught a good lesson, I didnt really have to teach it...it was so horrible and completely againest my beliefs about teaching...
So just expect this sort of thing in conversation school...there will be lies and lazy teachers and it is hard to keep a positive attitude and hard to stay excited about teaching. The kids are great and the teaching is loads of fun, but outside of that it sucks...
So if you can handle all of this then you will be fine...lol.
Be an ALT! (just kidding do what you think is best, but in my opinion ALT is worlds better than convo school...)

[chinagirl]

Just a general point for newcomers (and I'm not sure if I am reading the last post correctly...it may not accurately pertain to his/her situation, so I'm sorry if it does not) - any conversation/language school that is decent should include preparation as part of your work time/responsibility. For a full time teacher, if you are teaching 25 hours a week, you should have about 10-15 hours a week to plan and keep records and fulfill other school related responsibilities. No language school teacher working full time should be preparing lessons at home...that is simply not necessary if it is a decent school or unless there is a special cirumstance. Teaching materials should be available at the school (books, CDs, teachers manuals, flashcards) and there should be time before or in between classes to plan. If you are interviewing at a language school, ask the prospective employer about planning time and materials available. Will you be expected to plan on the job? At home? It's a really important point. If the school does not expect you to plan lessons on the job as part of your working hours, I would think twice about it.

On top of that, if you are traveling to more than one school per day for your job, you should also be thinking about that in terms of total work hours. All of that time traveling and preparing should be counted in your total work hours along with actual classroom time. (The previous poster had quite a bit of travel time per teaching location and I am not sure of his/her situation, but every school is different.)

Perhaps there are those who will disagree, but having worked at a variety of schools, I think that being provided with a time and place to prepare lessons having access to plenty of teaching resources is the mark of a good language school. (I'm not talking about chain schools that expect you to teach a set lesson out of a binder, I am talking about schools where teachers are expected to plan classes on their own either with commercial texts or by other means.) Schools that take into account travel time and prep time have happier teachers and much lower turnover than schools that take advantage of young and eager teachers who are willing to overlook such things.

[Quibby84]

I think you are very right. Giving a teacher time to plan shows that the school means business...it shows that they care if you have good lessons. Most of the teachers I worked with would grab a few flashcards and call that a lesson..this was ok with the school and good for them because they didnt have to spend hours preparing and creating lessons...
So this is definitley a good thing to look for.

[steki47]

Ok, two years later. Did you get the job? How was it?